Holy Fuck, can we all agree that I need to put this whole cowbell obsession to rest, once and for all? Below I’ve listed the 6 CD’s that I put together for my sister for Xmas. It was a 2 month job, and I spent as much time on the flow of the tracks on the discs as I did hunting through my CDs to find them. I can’t say I did a great job, but 108 tracks of cowbell without relying on any typical classic rock tracks disqualifies any arguments against quality.
I named the collection Cowbell++ as a nod to the nerds* and made her color coded CD covers to make them look a little cooler. And even if you think the whole thing is retarded, who can argue with a title like “Cowbell++ Volume 2: The Wrath of Khow”?**
The first 2 CD’s make no distinction between analog and digital cowbell, but the last 4 are solely analog. No matter if you are a cowbell purist (ANALOG OR DEATH! DINK DINK!) or loose hiphop cowbell aficionado (Whatcha gonna do with all that bell, all that bell up in them jeans?), there should be at least a disc that you can appreciate.
I can easily say that this is the most time I spent on an present. The first 2 are for dancin’ when no one is lookin’, the second two are for drivin’ when no one is clockin’, and the final two are for seducin’ rich old timers when the nurse ain’t around. I’m proudest of the tracks on the first two, the covers on the second two, and the fact that I pulled the fifth and sixth out of my ass in a mere two days right before Xmas. And if you can believe it, there were actually a few tracks that didn’t make the final cut. With this post, I am officially putting the cowbell talk to rest. Happy Xma-birthday, Sis. Game Over.
*Putting ++ after a variable in some programming languages is a way to increment the variable. For example, if $x=665, then $x++ will increment $x to 666.
**The subtitle of Star Trek II was “The Wrath of Khan.”
Cowbell++ Vol. 1: WTF (What the Funk)?
- Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back
- Jay-Z – Big Pimpin’ (Feat. UGK)
- Z Trip – All About the Music (feat. Whipper Whip)
- Sugar Hill Gang – Rapper’s Delight
- Beastie Boys – Hey Ladies
- Marvin Gaye – Got to Give it Up
- Stevie Wonder – Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing
- KC And The Sunshine Band – Sound Your Funky Horn
- The Chemical Brothers – Orange Wedge
- Aretha Franklin – Rock Steady
- Ohio Players – Love Rollercoaster
- Con Funk Shun – Too Tight
- Gap Band – Steppin’ (Out)
- Lipps Inc – Funkytown
- KC And The Sunshine Band – Get Down Tonight
- Dj Shadow – The Number Song (Cut Chemist Party Mix)
- KC And The Sunshine Band – (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty
- Nelly – Hot In Herre
- Lyrics Born – Do That There (feat. Cut Chemist)
- Stevie Wonder – Pastime Paradise
Cowbell++ Vol. 2: The Wrath of Khow
- Gap Band – Party Train
- Chemical Brothers – Come Inside
- The Chemical Brothers – In Dust We Trust/Song to the Siren
- Missy Elliott – Work It
- Shannon – Let The Music Play
- Beastie Boys – Alright Hear This
- Nelly – Na Nana Na (ft Jazze Pha & Jasper Cameron)
- Newcleus – Jam On It
- Nelly – Flap Your Wings
- The Chemical Brothers – Chemical Beats
- Chemical Brothers – Hold Tight London
- Missy Elliott – Go To The Floor
- N.W.A – Gangsta Gangsta
- Chemical Brothers – Close Your Eyes
- Barry White – Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe
Cowbell++ Vol. 3: Rockin’ Without Dokken
- Fu Manchu – Ampn’
- The Donnas – All Messed Up
- Fu Manchu – Mongoose
- Guns N’ Roses – Nightrain
- Skid Row – Monkey Business
- Cinderella- Shake Me
- The Dirtbombs – Maybe Your Baby
- The Donnas – You Wanna Get Me High
- The Dirtbombs – Little Miss Chocolate Syrup
- Southern Culture on the Skids – Voodoo Cadillac
- The Donnas – On the Rocks
- Guns N’ Roses – Mr. Brownstone
- Fu Manchu – Separate Kingdom
- Guns N’ Roses – Welcome To The Jungle
Cowbell++ Vol. 4: Rock… ’til you Drop
- Fu Manchu – Blue Tile Fever
- Fu Manchu – Urethane
- Guns N’ Roses – It’s So Easy
- Dirtbombs – Livin’ For The City
- Fu Manchu – Time To Fly
- Fu Manchu – Trapeze Freak
- Son Volt – Drown
- Southern Culture on the Skids – Fried Chicken and Gasoline
- Dirtbombs – Do You See My Love (For You Growing)
- Fu Manchu – Mega-Bumpers
- Guns N’ Roses – Think About You
- Beatles – Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey
- Fu Manchu – Wurkin’
- Fu Manchu – Freedom of Choice
- Guns N’ Roses – My Michelle
- Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name
Cowbell++ Vol. 5: Lounging Around
- Perez Prado – If you knew Susie (Like I know Susie)
- Esquivel – Cherokee
- Tito Puente and Woody Herman – New Cha-Cha
- Tito Rodriguez – The Magnificent Seven
- Stan La Baum and His Orchestra – A La Salud
- Yma Sumac – Gopher Mambo
- Esquivel – All of Me
- Jackie Davis – Glow Worm Cha-Cha-Cha
- Martin Denny – Hawaii Tattoo
- Laurindo Almeida & The Bossa Nove All Stars – Recado Bossa Nova
- John Buzon Trio – It Must Be True
- Jack Costanzo and Don Swan – Bei Mir Bist Du Schon / La Furiosa
- Tito Puente and Woody Herman – Mambo Herd
- Esquivel – Speak Low
- Paris Combo – Moi, mon a me et ma conscience
- Rinky Dinks – Choo Choo Cha Cha
- Dean Martin – Cha Cha Cha D’ Amour
- Tito Puente and Woody Herman – Tito Meets Woody
- Yma Sumac – Taki Rari
- Perez Prado – Ola Conga
- Sounds Orchestra – Mas Que Nada
- Los Albinos – The Swinging Conga
- Mallet Men – 80 Drums Around The World / Dark Eyes / It Happened In Monterey
Cowbell++ Vol. 6: easy Does It
- Esquivel – Carioca
- Tito Puente and Woody Herman – Cha Cha Chick
- Unknown – Rock Cha Rhumba
- Lex Baxter – Voodoo Dreams-Voodoo
- Martin Denny – Stone God
- The Peter Loland Orchestra – La Cucarachacha
- Walter Wanderly,Astrud Gilberto – O Menino Decse O Morro
- Dick Hyman – The Minotaur
- Esquivel – You Belong to My Heart
- Perez Prado – Zelda’s Theme
- Esquivel – Boulevard of Broken Dreams
- Esquivel – My Blue Heaven
- The Eliminators – Staccato
- George Auld – You’re My Thrill
- Laurindo Almeida & The Bossa Nova All Stars – Desafinado
- Perez Prado and His Orchestra – Moniter Mambo
- Georges Garvarentz – Haschisch Party
- Henry Mancini – Springtime for Hitler
- Walter Wanderly – A Nega Se Vingou
- Ruben Calzado and His Orchestra – Chiquito
Great artwork Jon,
Any chance you’ll post full size scans of the covers?
This looks like a series I might pick up if they sold it!
Gotta get these for my mp3 player!
Holy Crap!.. That’s too cool for words… I’ve always if anyone would take the whole Christopher Walken cowbell thing and run with it to its required end.. Any chance of getting these tracks along with the artwork online somewhere?
Hell, I’ll even make an account for you on my webserver and host the damn thing, just for the fun of it.
see? see? you are a creative genius!!! and i’m not just saying that because we’re related and if you’re a genius, i must be a genius too. we should be a team. i’ll come up with the ideas and you spend tireless hours bringing them to life. we could be called….”dyerama”. ok, maybe i need to work on that. see what hours spent away from jerry springer can do for your creative juices? you should try to sell them online. i bet you could. you could just burn copies for people. nobody will want to go to the effort of downloading all those songs when they can send 3 easy installments of $19.99 to the address on your screen (does not include shipping and handling). aaawwww yeah. you opened the door of the cowbell and you won’t be able to close it.
Glad you like it.
I’d love to spread these CD’s far and wide, but with all the RIAA bullshit going on out there, I’m a little afraid to dump these tracks anywhere in digital form.
Game over, indeed. You win! This is brilliant. I certainly wish you would spread these CD’s to the masses. You could be the new K-Tel.
Wow, that puts my two CD cowbell comp to shame…at least I didn’t have any repeats band-wise though!
I looked for your comp on your site, but I couldn’t find it…
You need to get some Hugh Masakela – Grazing in the Grass up in those beeyotches.
Missing is Northern State – Last Night. Bad song, but it has cowbell. Also, I apologize for never sending you a mix cd. I wrote the tracklist out and everything, I just never burned it. Maybe one day, we can all dream.
What you should do is sign up to be an iTunes affiliate. Then go to iTunes and create your own playlist. Then link to the playlist you created and when people buy the songs, you get a kickback. It’s the only legal way to do it.
-Matt
And yet no tracks by the Darkness?
I only used CDs that I own, so what you see is what I got.
Good suggestion, Matt, I’m not sure about being an affiliate. I don’t think I really want to support the whole iTunes thing. It’s the same reason I’m not an Amazon Affiliate. I guess they’re ok companies, but I just don’t want to get into that.
I don’t like theft, but I support free in as many places as possible.
I want to buy all of these from you. You are my hero for putting these together and I really wish you were my brother. I’m completely serious. If you don’t want to sell them, may I send you CDs and cookies? “I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.”